Central China's Henan province on Monday launched a nongovernmental organization, called the Henan AIDS Prevention and Treatment Association, Xinhuanet reports. The NGO aims to increase HIV prevention education and provide services to people living with HIV/AIDS, according to Huang Wei, deputy director of the provincial health department who also will chair the association. The association will seek to build partnerships with domestic and international organizations in an effort to increase funding for prevention programs, Huang said. The NGO has 137 members -- including people living with HIV/AIDS, teachers, lawyers, journalists and entrepreneurs -- Xinhuanet reports.

Henan has the second highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in China and reported 35,232 HIV cases at the end of 2006. Many HIV cases in Henan were transmitted through illegal, unsafe blood transfusions in the 1990s, Xinhuanet reports (Xinhuanet, 7/9).

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